Probe reveals nearly 600 cases of misused subsidies by civic groups

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety in Sejong [YONHAP]

Nearly 600 cases of corruption were found in nonprofit civic groups that received subsidies from local government offices in the past five years, resulting in 1.5 billion won ($1.2 million) worth of misappropriated funds.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced the outcomes of a months-long investigation on Monday, saying that a total of 572 corrupt activities were detected from 2018 to 2022.

One civic group tasked with repairing agricultural equipment was found to have falsified documents to fraudulently receive 25.6 million won in subsidies from a local government office.

Another civic group received 5 million won for a community project meant to restore traditional makgeolli, or Korean rice wine, but ended up using 1.4 million won on other irrelevant expenses.

In a meeting on Monday, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety urged the policy chiefs of the 17 provincial and metropolitan government offices to conduct a thorough examination of local government subsidies for non-profit civic groups for the upcoming year.

Lee Yong-il, head of the ministry’s Local Finance Cooperation Division, told reporters that guidelines would be sent to each local government office prior to their 2024 budget planning.

Based on the investigation findings, the ministry stressed that misused subsidies will be reimbursed, while the responsible civic groups will face penalties or fines. The organizations will also be excluded from future subsidy programs and have their names publicly disclosed.

The latest findings came two weeks after the presidential office announced that a separate audit led by the Office for Government Policy Coordination discovered 1,856 cases of corruption in some 12,000 civic groups that received subsidies from the government over the past three years.

The misdeeds amounted to 31.4 billion won in misappropriated funds.

Most of the corruption cases were in regard to embezzlement, false claims, using funds for personal purposes, insider trading and falsifying documents.

Among the findings in the audit, a secretary general of one civic organization was found to have filed false reports on overseas business trips. The unidentified official allegedly pocketed 13.4 million won in subsidies on two overseas trips that were personal in nature, and one falsely reported trip in which he had never even left the country. The travels were disguised as efforts to strengthen overseas cooperation.

Several employees of another civic group allegedly spent 18 million won buying booze and paying for entertainment instead of supporting families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, as they claimed to be doing.

Lee Kwan-sup, President Yoon Suk-yeol’s senior secretary for state affairs planning, said the administration was planning to cut at least 500 billion won in subsidies for civic groups next year.

BY LEE SUNG-EUN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]